Hmmm Sponsors?

Anyone know of any companies willing to sponsor a car?  

After answering the last two posts for you, I figured I'd give this one a shot too. As the crew chief of a local dirt track stock car (check it out in reader's rides under Grand Prix), I can tell you sponsorships are hard to come by. First off, you need to consider how a business will benefit from advertising on your car. If the nearest drag strip is 2 hours away, most local businesses will not be interested because it doesn't benefit them. If the track is local, you can be sure that most businesses have had a steady stream of racers looking for sponsorship already.
If you do get sponsors, remember that there is more to it than collecting a big cheque and slapping on a decal. Many sponsors want you to make the car available for special events and public appearances, usually on Saturdays or long weekends. all this takes time and effort not related to racing. For example, in the last 3 years our car has been solely sponsored by our United Church, through fundraisers and congregation member donations. Part of our team which has nothing to do with the car and racing is a facepainting team, they are at the track every week to do facepainting for kids and often miss a good part of the races keeping kids happy. This past weekend we were booked from 10am-2pm at a local county fair, then from 4pm-5:30pm at a Kidzfest organized by Billy Graham Ministries (basically a free carnival and concert for area kids), then we had to load the car and be at the track by 6pm for hot laps. All this was after thrashing on the car until midnite Friday to repair damage from the previous weekend of racing. Two weeks ago we raced until midnite then had to wash the car and scrub the tires clean and apply Armorall  and so on until 1:30am so that the car could be displayed at the local Automotion carshow on Sunday, only to have it rain until 2pm Sunday! We spent three days of my vacation time in May, sitting in the local arena for Racers Against Drugs, speaking to literally hundreds of grade 4 and 5 kids from all over the school district. Are you getting the jist of this yet?  If you get sponsors, effectively you are agreeing to work for them as an advertising agent and representative of them, using the car as an advertising tool. Keep this in mind before you go begging for money!
Steve  
Trying to help... 'cause we don't all have to learn the hard way!

Another thought, when it comes to race cars, most potential sponsors want to see a finished car ready to wear their company logo. Don't expect people to hand over money so you can spend a year building the car with their money. They will look for a clean, courteous presentation from someone who will be an upstanding, respectable representative of their business. Basically you want to dress appropriately, be clean shaven, cover any tattoos (not being judgemental, just stating a fact) especially anything that could be considered distasteful, don't smoke or swear and so on. You'd be surprised how many guys lose out on good sponsors for not following the above guidelines.
Steve  
Trying to help... 'cause we don't all have to learn the hard way!

Im planning on finishing my car first before finding sponsors. I love that you are sponsored by your United Church. Thats amazing! I love Billy Graham Ministries to so thats pretty awesome!